This is a NON happy blog post!

Ok so I'm always trying to think of ways to make my posts 'happy' seeing as it is "Rebecca's Happy Blog" but today this is completely a NON happy blog. Why? Because I'm grumpy and feel crappy. Why? Well let's see....I'm female....any ideas? I have to admit that at least once a month (hint hint) I really do not enjoy being a woman. Maybe I sound ungrateful because most of the time I love being female, but when you feel as crappy as I do right now, you'd likely feel the same way. And trust me, you DON'T want to feel like this. I realize in the big scheme of things, when looking at the big picture, that it's really no big deal. I have my health generally so I shouldn't complain. But, when you feel this way for 2 whole days every 4 weeks, and don't feel like getting out of bed, it really sucks! Grrrr.....but on the bright side (yes I guess there is one) my hubby is baking me chocolate chunk cookies right now. Yay. If only he could spike em with some pain killers!

Me and Trevor Linden....

Ok so his wife has nothing to worry about (she's gorgeous! and I'm happily married) but I have to admit that when I was young I had a major crush on Trevor Linden. I was dating a guy in high school who played hockey so we watched all the games and went to many too and I think I can blame him for my crush because he got me into the whole trading hockey cards and all that. He created the hype and I followed, but only Trevor Linden. Man did I have a crush! My boyfriend was going to a skate with the Canucks event and I even gave him a photo of myself to get him to get Trevor to sign! How vain! But he took it and Trevor signed it. I was in heaven! I even told my boyfriend (whom I loved dearly) that if I had the opportunity to date Trevor Linden that I'd leave him for Trevor, and he seemed fine with it as we were both pretty sure I would never meet him.

Anyway, high school ended, that relationship ended and my infatuation with Trevor Linden ended. Or so I thought. Well it did end for years and years....too many other fish in the sea I suppose. But then a couple of summers ago my Mom and I were in a golf store and who was trying on golf shoes but TREVOR. I was in my 30s but acted like I was 16. Total school girl crush took over me. I whispered in excitement to my Mom "That's Trevor Linden over there!" She knew that thru work I'd interviewed him a few months back so she said "Go talk to him, introduce yourself. Meet him professionally." But there was NO way. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't think of what to say or how to approach him...all I could do was continue shopping but watching him out of the corner of my eye the whole time. Pretty crazy I know. Since then I haven't thought about him at all until....

Last year, in the months leading up to my wedding I had a dream that Trevor interrupted my wedding ceremony and burst into the church yelling "Don't marry him, you're meant to be with me." Ok, I have to tell you I always have really CRAZY dreams that don't make sense, so this dream didn't frighten me about my upcoming marriage, I just laughed at it. And no, he didn't show up and interrupt my wedding - which was by the way the best day of my life!

And since my wedding last year I haven't thought about him at all, other than when people ask, "Did Trevor interrupt your wedding?" referencing that silly dream. In fact, I spent so many years dating guys who were major hockey fans that I saw a lot of games, now I don't even watch hockey anymore. I'm just not that into it. However, tonight I'm watching. Seeing as it could be Trevor's very last NHL game as a Vancouver Canuck, I think I owe it to myself to watch him one last time. After all, he's still pretty darn cute, and, in my opinion, the best Captain the Canucks have ever had. In fact, I think I still have my hockey card of him in a box somewhere in storage. I can't give that up! I'm too sentimental. Ahh silly crushes! Go Trevor!

Dirty Doggz to PawFection!

If you're a doggie owner you likely have your regular places to visit for pet supplies but if you're looking for a great place to wash your dog, you've got to check out Dirty Doggz in North Van.

You can either drop off your pooch for a bath or do it yourself. They have these great big waist height tubs, aprons for you to wear while washing, warm water, really nice shampoos and conditioners all included, fluffy towels and these great and powerful dryers so that Fifi or Fido go home all pretty and soft, and CLEAN! And if your pup is anything like my Teddy, they can get pretty darn dirty in this neck of the woods. Why do dogs love rolling in the yucky stuff ie.dead salmon? Oh and the best part, when you're all done, you just leave the dirt and hair and mess for them to clean up. Nice! And if you're not into washing your dog, for a few dollars more they'll do it all for you. I personally like to wash Teddy myself - it's a good bonding experience for our whole family. Usually my hubby and I take him together. Team work!

They also have a professional groomer on staff (Nicole) and some great retail supplies if you're in need of a new collar, or squeak toy or food (we got an awesome brush there!), and after every bath your pup gets a treat. So nice!!

Katya, the owner, and top dog washer, LOVES dogs and often brings her own pups to the shop. It's a great place!!

Now when we're out in the Fraser Valley we go to PawFection Pet Tubs in Chilliwack. One of the owners, Kim, absolutely ADORES animals and they have a similar set up where you can wash your dog yourself with all of the needed supplies right there and waiting for you. Plus a boutique (we got Ted's car seatbelt there-safety first!), full grooming services and they even sell the cool dog tubs....if only I had room in my house. And, like most pet places, Kim's pup Chrissy Snow is the resident 4-legged furry friend who will greet you at the shop. That's her in the photo - she was in a charity doggy fashion show for the Home Show and carried by Lynn Spence of CityLine fame. So cute!

Gold Diggers!!

Can you say Heather Mills? Oh don't get me started on her....she's crazy! And, why won't she just go away and take care of her daughter and live in peace with her not deserved $49-Million Dollars. Oh right, I'm not going to get started....

The reason I bring up Gold Diggers is to say hello to all the Mountain FM listeners who are Gold Diggers and welcome to my blog! I had the flu for 3 weeks in March and while I was at home sick on the couch Mike set me up with this blog. It's fun! I get to write about whatever I want and I try to keep it on happy topics, but really, I should have called it Rebecca's Random Reality, that pretty much explains it. Just snippets of my life or what I'm thinking about.

Mikey, Teddy and I are missing everybody in Sea 2 Sky but we're not far. In fact, I still listen to Mountain FM especially Robbee Dobbie Doo in the mornings - I think that should be his official on-air name from now on, don't you? He's doing a great job and we're very proud of him.

Ok at this point I'm sure you're thinking...'ok enough blogging Rebecca, we're here for the Bonus Code' so I won't make you wait any longer. The Bonus Code is the name of our dog and I've mentioned his name in this post...and if you're not sure, my husband is Mike. Good luck! And hey, feel free to drop me a line or say hi - just click on Comments below.

Take care and I hope you're well!
Rebecca
(former Mountain FM Announcer)

Why wear a purple bracelet?

Plastic bracelets have been all the rage over the past few years and so many different groups have them in many different colours to support different causes. Of course there was the Lance Armstrong yellow bracelet and the pink Breast Cancer bracelet and so many others. I actually didn't wear one until I discovered the Purple Bracelet. Why do I choose to wear this one? Well, studies have shown that positive people are healthier, live longer and have a better sense of well-being, they're happier people. And in a world right now that is so full of hate and destruction and terror and sadness and pain (ok I know it's not all bad but there is a lot of yuckiness in the world right now) I really wanted to be a positive part of the world, not negative. Besides, nobody wants to be around a negative person, who needs it?! So, to do my part, and to remind me to continue to try to do my part, I got a purple Positively Speaking bracelet. You can get them online by donation to charity. It's actually a bit of a difficult challenge but basically you wear the purple bracelet to remind you to speak positively for 21 days straight. And when you mess up (I messed up within a few hours on day 1) you swap it to the other wrist....and keep going til you've reached 21 days. Why 21 days? Well that's how long it takes to form a new habit and speaking positively all the time isn't as easy as it seems. I've always tried to be a good person, a kind, loving and caring person but what comes out of my mouth doesn't always exemplify that attempt. We all have things in life that frustrate us and sometimes we get down on things, or bitch about things, yet complaining isn't speaking positively now is it? The bracelet reminds us to try to think before we open our mouth and try to look at the bright side, and find a way to be more democratic and to not add any more negativity to the situation. Oh and gossip is the worst! Everybody wants to know everybody's business and it's so easy to slip into a gossipy conversation, but, gossip isn't healthy and we all know that. So, with the bracelet, when I'm tempted to open my mouth, I try to pause and either get out of the conversation or I try to say something nice. Remember what Mom always used to say..."If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all!" And whadaya know, it'll make you feel good about yourself as well! I have to admit I haven't reached 21 days yet but I'm trying.

To Blog is to Heal??

Ok so this is interesting. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that 'writing' can alleviate some of the physical symptoms of disease. The study, led by Joshua M. Smyth, professor of psychology at North Dakota State University in Fargo, was centred on 112 men and women with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis. One group of patients was asked to write about the most stressful event in their lives, while a control group was asked to write about emotionally neutral topics for 20 minutes on three consecutive days.

At the four-month checkup it was discovered that asthma patients in the experimental group showed improvements of 19 per cent in lung function, while the control group experienced no change. Rheumatoid arthritis patients in the experimental group showed a reduction in disease severity of 28 per cent, compared to no change in the control group. Overall, 47 per cent of the experimental patients had what Smyth describes as a clinically relevant improvement in symptoms. Now he's trying to determine why patients were helped by writing, and speculates that writing about traumatic events may have helped patients to finally deal with and accept tragedies that had been causing stress and sleeplessness. By altering the physiological stress patterns in their bodies, their health improved.

Ok, makes sense and that's great news for bloggers. Not only am I having fun blogging, I'm creating a positive effect on my well-being. To blog is to heal. I wonder if people with psychological issues are more drawn to blogging than mentally healthy people. Hmmm....

How to get Happy?

While not all of my posts are happy ones, yet the name of my blog is 'Rebecca's Happy Blog', I will strive to make it happy when I can. So how do we achieve being happy? I know I've strived for 'it' in all the wrong ways, but, have learned from those experiences, so that's positive. An American psychologist and author, Dan Baker, wrote a book called 'What Happy People Know' and he claims he's found the 6 key tools for people to use to find their own 'happy'. Because if there's one thing I've learned, only you can make yourself happy. You can't rely on others. It's up to you.

These 6 tools to happiness are tools which can help us avoid what he calls the four ‘happiness traps’. The traps are: the ‘Trying-to-Buy-Happiness Trap’, the ‘Trying-to-find-Happiness-Through-Pleasure Trap’, the ‘Trying-to-Find-Happiness-by-overcoming Weaknesses Trap’, and the ‘Trying-to-Force-Happiness Trap’. Yep, I've visited those traps before. They seem pretty self-explanatory and one can understand how one can get caught, but what are the 6 tools to avoid them and find authentic happiness? How do we achieve being happy? Well, here we go...according to Dan Baker:

- Appreciation: The outward-bound kind of love which gives everything and asks for nothing, making it pure and strong.
- Choice: Having no choices leads inexorably towards depression and anxiety. Baker says that “anyone can choose the course of their lives, but only happy people do it”.
- Personal Power: A proactive force which gives the individual power over their feelings and their fate. It is made up of two constitutent parts: taking action and taking responsibility.
- Leading with your strengths: Focusing on strengths, rather than retreating into focusing on weaknesses, enables a swifter solving (and resolving) of situations.
- The power of language: Language can be used in a healthy or horrible way, and words have immense power to constrain or to liberate.
- Multidimensional Living: Putting equal energy into the three main components of life (relationships, health, and purpose) is the final key to living a truly happy life.

These are all pretty straight forward, no big surprise, but totally make sense and are worth remembering. Nobody said life would be easy...here's hoping it is most of the time, but we are the creators of our own destiny and we do have the capability of being really happy, so if you're not quite there, hopefully these 6 tools will help. Here's to happiness!